Jessy Mendiola
Jessy Mendiola said crying her heart out on the set has helped speed up the healing of her broken heart.
As her character Grace Fontanilla in the recently concluded Kapamilya teleserye of “You’re My Home,” Jessy had a lot of crying scenes, which she considered “therapeutic.”
“I remember that there wasn’t a day at work that I didn’t have to cry or break down. Luckily, I had something to focus on while I was going through a difficult time in my personal life,” she told reporters present at the recent first anniversary party of the video streaming service group, Hooq.
Jessy and Xian Lim are Hooq’s newest endorsers.
Jessy denied there was something romantic brewing between her and JC de Vera, who plays her lover, Christian Vergara, in the series.
Not real
“I’m glad people still like our tandem even though nothing is happening between us in real life,” she said.
Jessy insisted that she wasn’t ready for love. “It’s far from my mind right now. I’m discovering a lot of things about myself now that I’m not looking for love. Who would have thought that I’d like scuba diving, kayaking and snorkeling? You’ll know more of yourself when you’ve reached what you thought was the lowest point in your life, and eventually survived it.”
In November last year, Jessy broke up for the second time with actor JM de Guzman, whose family reportedly decided to send him to a rehabilitation facility due to drug dependence. (They were together for two years before their first breakup. They got back together in April 2015.)
Traumatic
“The experience was very traumatic,” the actress admitted. “You move on, one step at a time. I’m slowly getting there. Of course, you have to believe in yourself in order to love again. I came to a point where I doubted if anyone would still love me.”
If she had her way, Jessy said she would not discuss the issue anymore. “I don’t want to be accused of using him (JM) to promote myself. He was once a part of my life. He is very dear to me,” she explained.
She took a lot of flak from netizens for publicly talking about the breakup.
Jessy chose to ignore them “although, admittedly, there were days when I talked back.”
Defender
“Even my mom gets fed up sometimes, so she defends me,” she shared with Inquirer. “I understand her. She’s my mom, and she would do everything to defend me.”
Asked whether she was still willing to fight for love despite her traumatic experience, Jessy answered in the affirmative, but added that “I don’t search for love anymore. I wait patiently. I’m in no hurry. It’s funny because while you’re waiting for the right guy, you also discover a lot of things about yourself that you should improve on.”
E-mail mcruz@inquirer.com.ph